The Know-Nothing’s Guide to Pussy Riot, the Realest Punks Alive

After enduring five months of delays and attracting worldwide attention, the Pussy Riot trial finally began in Moscow this week. But what is Pussy Riot? Why is it on trial? What is Moscow? All your questions will be answered here.

What is Pussy Riot?

Pussy Riot is a Russian punk collective founded in September of last year in the wake of Vladimir Putin's announcement that he would seek election for a third presidential term. (Putin, currently the prime minister, stepped down from the presidency in 2008 due to limits on serving consecutive terms; the current president, Dmitri Medvedev, is a Putin ally.) "t that point," Pussy Riot's Serafima (members use pseudonyms) told Vice in February, "we realized that this country needs a militant, punk-feminist, street band that will rip through Moscow's streets and squares, mobilize public energy against the evil crooks of the Putinist junta and enrich the Russian cultural and political opposition"

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What happened?

On February 21, Five Pussy Rioteers took to the church's altar and performed a mock prayer, begging the Virgin Mary to chase Putin out of power. They lasted about 30 seconds before being removed by security guards, and the footage was later used in a music video, which you can see here.

That's it?

Well, where the U.S. has successfully neutralized the protest possibilities of punk rock through a careful combination of commodification and fashionable cynicism, Russia doesn't fuck around: two weeks after the prayer, three women in Pussy Riot — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mariya Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich — were arrested and charged with hooliganism, which can carry a sentence of up to seven years. They've been languishing in jail since then, denied bail and waiting through several delays; two of the women are mothers and haven't seen their young kids since the arrest.